Social Security gets paid out first, and that should continue. We have the money.
In 2021, as I read it, the USA collected about $4 Trillion in revenue. About $1.1 Trilion was Social Security; about $2 Trillion was income taxes. The rich pay half of the income tax, they wail, but as you say, Thom, that’s not the half of it.
Robert Reich has a good bit regarding being a trustee of Social Security, when the other trustees laughed at him when he asked about the trust fund and running out. ( imagine mock indignance ) Payroll taxes are deposited in the general fund and used for paying the obligations of our federal operations.
Social Security is an investment in our federal enterprise, and our federal enterprise owes us dividends in the form of retirement benefits when we reach that age. ( Arguably, yes, sooner )
I haven’t seen a calm, faithful accounting of where Social Security payments went from the beginning, versus what was paid out. They went to tax cuts for the rich, for sure, and there was a ferocious surplus for many decades.
Last year, it looks like Social Security very nearly broke even, on its classic pay-as-you-go cash basis. As you say, Thom, pay people more, get more taxes, including SSI.
It has seemed to me that we could model the USA as a mutual benefit insurance cooperative. Whole life. Socialist, that would be called, but anybody who calls insurance companies socialist should be . . . well, I leave it to you. It’s profoundly capitalist, if labels are what thrills you.
Thom, thanks for your decades of heartfelt and grounded efforts, dedicated incredible daily grit, insights and revelations and inspiration, very good to find you here — b.rad
The USA has about $141 Trilliion in net household wealth. Net. That fact needs to be cited every time we discuss what we can afford.
But there seems to be some embargo on even saying it out loud. Debt? That we can wail about all day long.
<https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/>
Social Security gets paid out first, and that should continue. We have the money.
In 2021, as I read it, the USA collected about $4 Trillion in revenue. About $1.1 Trilion was Social Security; about $2 Trillion was income taxes. The rich pay half of the income tax, they wail, but as you say, Thom, that’s not the half of it.
<https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/chartbooks/fast_facts/2021/fast_facts21.html>
<https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/revenue/categories/>
Robert Reich has a good bit regarding being a trustee of Social Security, when the other trustees laughed at him when he asked about the trust fund and running out. ( imagine mock indignance ) Payroll taxes are deposited in the general fund and used for paying the obligations of our federal operations.
Social Security is an investment in our federal enterprise, and our federal enterprise owes us dividends in the form of retirement benefits when we reach that age. ( Arguably, yes, sooner )
I haven’t seen a calm, faithful accounting of where Social Security payments went from the beginning, versus what was paid out. They went to tax cuts for the rich, for sure, and there was a ferocious surplus for many decades.
Last year, it looks like Social Security very nearly broke even, on its classic pay-as-you-go cash basis. As you say, Thom, pay people more, get more taxes, including SSI.
It has seemed to me that we could model the USA as a mutual benefit insurance cooperative. Whole life. Socialist, that would be called, but anybody who calls insurance companies socialist should be . . . well, I leave it to you. It’s profoundly capitalist, if labels are what thrills you.
Thom, thanks for your decades of heartfelt and grounded efforts, dedicated incredible daily grit, insights and revelations and inspiration, very good to find you here — b.rad